Cutting Down On Your Utility Costs

by Roman on February 23, 2010

Most people who are looking to cut costs don’t think to look at their utilities bill. In most cases, it is the shopping and leisure budgets that get the axe instead. While such actions are certainly commendable, focusing at least part of your attention on your utility bills can result in considerable savings off your monthly expenditures.

Thankfully, the key to saving on utility costs is pretty simple: use up less, whether that is water, electricity or gas!

Sounds easy enough to be sure, but you may just be surprised at how much money this simple action can shave off your utility bills every month.

Check out these tips to see how you can cut costs in specific areas.

Cutting Electricity Costs

Fans can do a lot to cool down your home if you set them up properly. In order to provide the maximum cooling effect, you will want to set up your fan to pull in cool air into your home and direct it into the warmer parts of the house. If possible use fans instead of air conditioning- fans use more than 10 times less energy than or regular air conditioning unit.

Tell everyone to turn off ALL the lights that aren’t being used in the house! It is easy enough to just leave the lights on for mood or atmosphere, but get into the habit of turning off unnecessary lights and you will be rewarded with a generous cut in your electric bill at the end of the month.

While you’re at it, turn the TV off when it is not being used as well. Studies have shown that a TV left on is one of the biggest wasters of electricity in the world. Shut it off when no one is around, and make sure that you set the timer to turn it off if you have the tendency to fall asleep while watching!

Putting A Stopper On Your Water Bill

Do periodic checks around your home to find out if any faucets or pipes are leaking. Every drop wasted is just a little bit more that is added to your monthly water bill, and as insignificant as this amount may seem, it does have a way of adding up over time. In fact, even a tiny drip can add up to more than two gallons of water in as little as an hour!

If you absolutely have to water your lawn, do it according to a schedule, and do most of your watering early in the morning so as to reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation.

Keep Things Warm and Cheap

In the winter, you may consider lighting up the fireplace or wood-stove instead of turning up the central heating. Not only does this add a bit of charm to the room, it is also a bit cheaper than using up gas.

Keep warm as needed. Get used to wearing the appropriate clothing for the weather. In the winter, sweaters and pants are recommended, and wearing these even while lounging around the home will help reduce your dependence on your gas-powered central heating unit.

I know exactly what you mean-especially with these past few winter months! Lately, I’ve been trying to turn on the light as little as possible. If there’s no reason for the light to be on, then why turn it on? Also, with showers I used to brush my teeth in the shower but I realized that it wastes so much water because I’m just leaving the water on so now I wait till I get out of the shower and then brush.

Another thing I’ve heard about the shower is that you should pee while taking the shower… that this helps you save water!
There was even a case where somewhere in the US a mayor of a small town made a tv commercial with himself peeing in the shower so that others would follow his example

Water will be included in your rent, and heat is usually part of your rent in that type of rental. If you have a cell you don’t need a land line. Depending on the amount of channels and Internet speed expect at least $60 on that. Internet only is 20-30 a month.

Simply turning off the lights around the house when you don’t need it will already save lots of money. I think it’s those little things we do that can help us cut down on the utility costs like bundling up instead of just turning on the heater.